Peter Nutbrown : Left-over trucks
Do you also hate having pieces let over after completing a project or kit build, what to do with them, sling or store them in a forgettable location. I had that problem with the volume of the sides and ends of 6 bogie wagons from converting them to stake wagons.
Looking at my rolling stock it was evident that I possessed far too many tipper trucks than my layout could adequately support and there were some second-hand ones with the flat beds substantially longer than the remainder which looked out of place in a rake.
Out came the screwdriver and the frames and hoppers were removed to reveal longitudinal planking and 4 large holes not a good start. I found that 2 of the 6 sets of the green plastic sides and ends which had been manufactured (in China) were plain and recessed, being without the wood grain effect on the inner sides. For 5 years these wagons had been towed around various 45mm layouts full of tree cuttings and I had never noticed the difference, just as well I required only 4 pairs for this project.
Out came the rule followed by the plan, no paper required for this job. If I chopped the ends off the long sides it would remove the writing and information boards at each end. Using the tile saw with a suitable slitting blade the sides were suitably cut down to size, stake noggins removed and the ends trimmed for width. A new black 1mm plastic floor was scribed to suit the flat bed and the whole assembly superglued due to the differing types of plastic. The flooring was trimmed to the body lines and this was Gorilla glued to the flatbed of the old tipper truck. When set a name label was stuck underneath and some Becc vinyl lettering was positioned on the sides.
And now I have 4 reconstituted open trucks made in under 8 hours, the longest job was the attaching of the lettering and writing this.
January 2020